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faculty

The teachers at Inspire Academy are all accomplished musicians and artists who love to share the joys of music and art with their students. To learn more about our teachers, click on the links below.

AP Music Theory
Danielle Naler

Guitar
Ben Barron

Piano
Victoria Ball
Debbie Boyden
Danielle Naler
Michelle Rank
Tamriko Siprashvili (owner/founder)
Fredric Zimmerman

Violin
Lisa Pratt

Voice
Sarah Franklin
Patrycja Poluchowicz

tamrikoTamriko Siprashvili (Inspire Academy owner/founder, piano). Tamriko is an award-winning pianist who has performed at concerts around the world. A native of the Republic of Georgia, she began playing the piano when she was 3 and was trained at both a special music school for gifted children as well as the Moscow Conservatory of Music. Tamriko has recorded several CDs of piano music, both as a soloist and as part of a piano duo with her former husband and partner, Mark Anderson. In addition to pursuing her piano concert and recording career, Tamriko delights in sharing her love for music with students through private piano lessons. She hopes that the students at Inspire Academy will truly be inspired and challenged to express themselves musically and artistically. Tamriko is a Steinway Artist.

danielle

Danielle Naler (piano and AP music theory). Danielle has been teaching piano for more than a decade and is vice-president of the Alameda East branch of the Music Teachers’s Association of California. She has a master’s degree in piano performance from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, where she studied with acclaimed pianist Yael Weiss and interned with master teacher Karen Taylor. Danielle is a fellow at the Music Academy of the West, where she plays in the Collaborative Piano program under the direction of Jonathan Feldman, a professor from The Juilliard School. She performs regularly with operas and orchestras and also plays as a duo with her husband, Micah, a violinist.

michelle

Michelle Rank (Piano). Michelle has served throughout the Bay Area as a performer and educator. Music has been her life's passion since the age of five when she first began her musical education. She has lived this passion through acting and directing musical theater and opera productions, through piano and vocal performances in Europe and across the United States, and through teaching for more than a decade. Michelle studied voice and piano performance/pedagogy at Louisiana College (Bachelor of Music) and Ithaca College (Master of Music). A classical pianist by training, she studied with acclaimed concert pianist Katerina Zaitseva and Dr. Nelita True from the Eastman School of Music. Michelle enjoys teaching all ages and levels of students and helping them build confidence in their ability to achieve, both academically and socially.

sarah franklinSarah Franklin (voice). An outstanding teacher who has maintained a private voice studio in Pleasanton for more than 30 years, Sarah is also an amazing singer whose talent has been repeatedly recognized through scholarships, fellowships, and performance opportunities at world-class venues. Sarah has a bachelor’s degree in music and a master’s degree from The Juilliard School. She has sung at Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum, and the Juilliard Opera Theater and has performed with various symphonies and choral groups, including the St. Louis Symphony, the Oakland Symphony, the Peninsula Symphony, the Carmel Bach Festival, Schola Cantorum in Palo Alto, the Santa Cruz Symphony, West Bay Opera, Valley Concert Chorale, I Cantori di Carmel, the Pleasanton Chamber Players and Pippin Pocket Opera.

ben Ben Barron (guitar). Growing up in a musical family, Ben began piano studies at age 5 and at age 9 began his passion with playing the guitar. Ben joined his father and brothers in musical performances starting at age 10, played the guitar professionally throughout his teens, and also began studying with renowned guitarist Rey DeLaTorre. Ben has a bachelor’s degree in music and a master’s in classical guitar performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied twentieth-century guitar compositions with David Tanenbaum and Dusan Bogdanovic. He later worked with master guitarist, George Sakellariou. Ben’s solo guitar CD, 20th Century Romantics, was heralded as a “fine disc” by Classical Guitar Magazine. Ben is active as a teacher and a performer in the San Francisco Bay Area and has performed live on television and radio. Ben is completing The Very Best of Joe Pass, a book of more than 25 solos transcribed by Ben and guitarist Warren Haskell. Visit Ben's Web site http://benbarronguitar.com for more information on Ben and to hear a sample of his beautiful music.

debbie boydenPatrycja Poluchowicz (voice). When Patrycja launched her singing career in her native Poland at age 12, she focused mainly on the pop and musical-theater genres. Later on, however, she developed an interest in and everlasting love for classical music, graduating from the Music Academy in Lodz, Poland, with a master’s of arts degree in vocal and acting. Patrycja made her professional debut at Poland’s Grand Theater, where she sang the roles of Susanna in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro and of Pamina in The Magic Flute. In 2001, Patrycja moved to the United States and earned a second master’s degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Patrycja’s many roles in opera and musical-theater productions have included the Countess (The Marriage of Figaro) at the Cowell Theater in San Francisco; Papagena (The Magic Flute) with the West Bay Opera; Olympia (The Tales of Hoffmann) at the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute; and, recently, Anna (The Haunted Manor) with the Pocket Opera. Patrycja was also part of the Sarasota Opera’s Young Artists Program in Florida, where she performed in many concerts and opera productions. Her new CD, The Wonderful World of Opera and Operetta, was recorded with the Opole Symphony Orchestra and was released last year to great success.

lisaLisa Pratt (violin). Lisa teaches and performs classical violin throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree with honors in violin performance from the University of Arizona School of Music where she studied with James Buswell, currently professor of violin at the New England Conservatory of Music. Lisa’s performance background includes over three years as principal second violin (third concertmaster) of the Baden Baden Philharmoniker in Germany, and many years of performing and touring with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. She currently maintains a private teaching studio, teaches violin and chamber music in private schools and is a member of the violin faculty for The Young Musician’s Program at UC Berkeley. Lisa is a member of the local chapter of the American String Teacher’s Association (ASTA) and recently participated in that organization’s first adjudications for young string players. Lisa does free-lance performance with such groups as Santa Rosa Symphony, Fremont Symphony, Oakland Ballet and Oakland Symphony. She also served for multiple years in the Young Audiences program, which brings the excitement and fun of classical music to young people through interactive performances in schools.

debbie boydenDebbie Boyden (piano). Debbie’s 30+ years of piano experience include her time studying piano at both Valparaiso University and under Vladimir Leyetchkiss in Chicago. Debbie began a private teaching practice in Danville in 1995 and has taught piano to beginning and intermediate students in both individual and group settings. Debbie is an active member of the piano teaching community, hosting and participating in teaching workshops to share methods and exchange successful techniques.

 



debbie boydenFredric Zimmerman (piano). Fredric studied and taught at UC Berkeley (Bachelor of Arts, 1989) and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (Master of Music, 1993). Since completing his graduate work, Fredric has remained active performing as a jazz pianist, accompanying vocalists and choirs as well as recording and performing his original compositions. Over the past thirteen years, he has been on the music faculty of Diablo Valley College and Las Positas College, teaching music theory/musicianship, jazz/improvisation and music history. While Fredric loves to play and teach classical music, his specialty as a private piano/music instructor is in building a foundation for improvising and composing that allows students to successfully play and compose in musical styles of our time such as Jazz, Rock and Popular music.

victoriaVictoria Ball (piano). Ever since starting piano studies at the age of 6, Victoria has incorporated the study and enjoyment of music into her life at all different levels, including playing several instruments, singing to her children at bedtime each night, and teaching private piano lessons for many years. Initially working as a graphics designer, Victoria is pursuing a lifelong dream of teaching piano lessons full-time at Inspire Academy. Victoria is a patient, enthusiastic instructor who enjoys teaching beginning/intermediate piano students of all ages to express their personalities through music. She also has a special love for guiding young children to explore and spend time in their imaginations as they begin their music education journeys. Victoria feels privileged to study concert piano with Tamriko Siprashvili and follows Tamriko’s example as a piano instructor who faithfully passes on her technical skills and lovingly encourages her students to be the best they can be.

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